


The Intern

by PutAnotherX



Series: Facets [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War, F/M, Gen, Internship, Not!Fic, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-11-14
Packaged: 2019-01-26 00:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12544652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PutAnotherX/pseuds/PutAnotherX
Summary: Tony introduces Peter Parker as his intern.A not!fic set during Infinity War.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Not!fic are some of my favorite. I love concepts that my mind can just run with. However, I understand that that's not everyone's cup of tea.

When Thanos begins his approach, the Avengers reunite. The Winter Soldier is still in cryo in Wakanda. Tony Stark has been building a second Avengers compound in Southeastern France. They are leaving the next day.

Tony is the only one that has ever seen Peter outside of his Spider-Man suit. He introduces him to the group as his "intern." 

Peter waves and says hi, and he pretends not to notice the Black Widow tilt her head at his voice and give Tony a _look_. Falcon narrows his eyes and frowns at him, and yeah, okay, maybe Peter had been a _little_ chatty the last time they saw each other. Maybemaybemaybe Wilson recognizes his voice. 

"Tony," Cap says, "this is a kid. What is he doing here."

Tony just gestures noncommittally at Peter and says again, "He's my intern." But this time he adds in his smarmy fast-talk, "He's my _best_ intern. Kid's a genius. There's nothing he can't handle. Go on, try him."

The Avengers—the _freaking Avengers_ , and yeah he's met most of them before but he hasn't really _met them_ met them and he still can't believe it—just kind of look at him skeptically, and Peter can feel his face falling and his excitement deflating. Bruce Banner breaks the silence.

"Well, I'll take an herbal tea! Lemon ginger, if you have it."

Peter grins. "I can do that," he says. But before he can leave, Captain Rogers speaks up.

"Tony, he's a kid. Why is he coming with?"

"Oh he's not fighting," Tony said. Peter is surprised, but he tries not to show it. "He's 14; do you think I'm crazy?"

"I'm 16, Mr. Stark."

"Since when?"

"Last month, Mr. Stark."

"Huh. See, Rogers? He's all grown up and ready for not-battle."

They all argue, and Peter slips out and gets Dr. Banner's tea in the kitchen. When he returns, they're still arguing. He slips behind the couches and hands over the blue mug without a word. Banner takes a sip and his eyes light up.

"Let's keep him!" he says excitedly. Tony grins, Steve sighs, and Natasha and Sam scowl like they're thinking.

* * *

Peter goes with them to Europe. He gets his own room in the compound, where the suit is hung up in his closet. Everyone calls it EC in the beginning. Peter starts calling it ECho. It sticks.

Everybody gets attached. The kid starts out as an intern, but he ends up being some kind of group morality pet. They watch their language in front of him, and sometimes when he asks questions about what they're doing, they stop to consider if they should be doing it at all. He knows that, and sometimes he makes them question themselves on purpose.

He addresses them ridiculously formally. "Dr. Banner" finds it charming how reverent Peter gets. It gets on "Mr. Wilson's" nerves. Peter just smiles sweetly and asks if he can help with anything. Sam grumbles about a cheery pain in the ass and storms off. "Ms. Romanov" assures him that Sam is grumpy like that with everyone.

If anyone has figured out his alter ego, they don't mention it.

Peter doesn't know when to shut the hell up, but Bruce doesn't mind. What kind of intern would he be if he didn't take advantage of every opportunity to learn? Plus, Tony had said he was a genius, and Bruce is starting to realize that he wasn't exaggerating. It was actually kind of nice that the kid was able to fill the silence in the lab so effectively. It made Bruce feel less alone.

He's also the first one to realize that Peter is more than just an intern. Peter is so excited to be involved in an experiment, he doesn't stop to think about how his DNA might look different than a normal teenager's. So when Bruce performed the test to compare their DNA markers—really, it's just for fun; Peter always looks so fascinated by that kind of stuff—he immediately recognizes strange markers in Peter's. 

"That's odd," he says to himself. When he turns to elaborate, the lab is empty. He keeps digging through the DNA for clues.

Natasha is the second person, closely followed by Sam. They both recognized his voice from somewhere, but neither can quite place it. Natasha realizes when Peter mentions The Empire Strikes Back to her. Sam realizes while they're discussing the carbon fiber in his wings. They both promise not to tell anyone.

Thor, of course, could feel it right away, but he didn't know it was a secret, and thus didn't think it worth sharing. No one counts him.

Vision finds out fourth because he's not big on walls or doors. Peter had been working on the suit in his room when he shifted through. He told Wanda before Peter could swear him to secrecy.

Steve is the last to know. He tends to avoid Tony, and thus he inadvertently avoids Peter as well. Peter has taken to wearing his web shooters around to make things easier. Natasha steals one off him—partially to prove she could to Peter, who had expressed doubts—and she's checking it out when Steve walks in. When he asks to see it too, she hands it over without a word.

Peter tries to stop him from spraying himself in the face. He really does, no matter how hard he laughs after it happens. 

Having someone so young, so vibrant and full of life, reminds the Avengers what they're fighting for as they prepare for war.

Then Thanos arrives.


	2. Steve Rogers and Peter Parker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony argue about Peter.
> 
> Then, Steve and Peter argue about Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this really took off. Who knew writing for an active fandom would be so rewarding?
> 
> This chapter is All About Steve.

Steve is righteously angry at Tony as soon as he figures it out. Peter's just a kid, after all, and he was already mad that Peter had come with them to France as an intern. They go to another room to fight, but Peter doesn't need super senses to hear it. The whole compound hears it.

"Are you out of your goddamn mind, Stark?" Steve demands. "Peter is a _child_. You're putting him in harm's way. _Again_."

"He's not a child, he's a teenager," Tony fires back. "There's a difference. This is the best way to keep him away from harm. What do you mean _again_?"

"Oh such a huge difference. By keeping him out of harm, could you mean throwing him right in the line of fire? Don't think anyone has forgotten about Berlin. _You brought him there, Stark_. He could've gotten seriously hurt."

"If I tried to keep him in Queens, what do you think he would've done?" Tony's quieter this time. "What would you have done, Captain. What _did_ you do, when they told you that you couldn't fight. I'm keeping him here. Off the front lines. But I'm letting him help. Otherwise he would just run off to join a war he has no business even knowing about."

The shouting match starts again, and Peter sits outside the room the whole time, his knees pressing against his chest. His hands cover his face, and he leans his head back against the wall. He tries not to think it's his fault. He doesn't do very well at that task.

When the door finally opens, Tony storms off dramatically. Steve just gives him a long look, sighs, and jerks his head in a way that says "follow me."

Peter does.

They end up in a gym. Not the big one with the basketball hoops and the bleachers, but a small one underground with punching bags and a boxing ring. Peter suspects Mr. Stark built this just for Captain Rogers. 

"What are you doing here, kid?" the Captain asks. Peter frowns.

"What do you mean?" he retorts. "I'm here to help you. All of you."

Captain Rogers just sighs again. "Shouldn't you be in... _school_... or something?"

Peters frown deepens. "Shouldn't you be in a nursing home… _or something_?" he snaps, mocking the Captain's tone. 

"You know what kid," Cap says, staring Peter down, "I think Tony was wrong. You're more like him than he thinks."

It's the first time he's said "Tony" instead of "Stark" since he's been at ECho.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter sputters as Cap turns to leave. He knows Mr. Stark isn't perfect, but in his mind there's no reason Captain Rogers's words should be so sharp.

"You don't know when to shut the hell up and go home. And you don't understand that the front lines aren't always where you need to be." When Cap keeps walking, Peter gets frustrated. He webs his feet to the floor, stopping him in his tracks.

"If I go home now," he says quietly, "I'll never stop thinking about every innocent person who gets hurt. How maybe I could have stopped it. I don't care if Mr. Stark says I'm not allowed to fight. I have to do something."

* * *

After that, Steve starts to understand what Stark meant when he said the kid was like him. The idealism, the persistence, the sense of duty, they all remind Steve of his younger days in Brooklyn.

Steve and Peter also start sparring, and if Steve loses a few rounds, well, it's only because the kid's got so much more energy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. It's different (in a nice way) when people actually see your work. Even if it's just typing up your feelings and headcanons with no actually fic structure.


	3. Steve and Peter and Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha and Clint see it for what it is.
> 
> Tony and Steve have some catching up to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's awesome!

Natasha sees their relationship for what it is: Peter Parker is Tony's shiny new Steve. Idealistic and inordinately strong, not to mention stubborn. What really cinches it is when they're sparring. She lands a knee in his stomach hard, and he goes down to the mat.

"Are you done?" she asks.

He pulls himself up on the ropes, grins, and says breathlessly, "I could do this all day."

Natasha can only go one more round before she has to bow out to find Clint. He's not nearly as surprised as her, the rat bastard. He says he figured it out two days ago. She rolls her eyes.

* * *

Clint also knows that as much as Peter is Tony's new Steve, he's also Steve's new Tony. He's a motor-mouthed, self-sacrificing genius, and as much as Peter looks at Steve with awe, Steve looks at Peter with that same strange, secret smile he used to give Tony.

Clint and Natasha would think it's adorable, if it isn't entirely frustrating. Instead of swallowing their pride and apologizing to each other—Tony for pushing the accords through without consideration, Steve for losing his mind about Bucky and literally everything else he did as a result—they had just replaced each other.

Tony looks to Peter often for the kind of moral high ground that Steve used to stand on. Steve looks at Peter in frustration every time something goes above his head.

It doesn't work for long. The first time Steve and Tony really get into it, Peter gets caught in the middle.

"Why don't we just ask Peter?" Tony snarls.

Steve huffs. "Yeah, why don't we?" he says. "Do you really think he'll agree with you?" They both turn to him.

Clint doesn't laugh out loud often, but he can't help it when Peter narrows his eyes, webs up their mouths, and stomps away without answering their question.

* * *

Peter has been working on his web fluid lately, so instead of the two hours of silence they would have gotten, they get seven.

Natasha and Clint use this time to make a PowerPoint for them while they sulk and pout like teenagers. When it's done they bring the two into the lounge and invite Peter to sit between them. Peter brings the skin safe web dissolving solution he made, but he doesn't use it. Steve and Tony know better than to try and take it from him.

"Listen up, fuckers!" Clint announces. "Today we are going to learn about proper workplace behavior."

"Like it or not," Natasha says, "this is a working environment. It's more relaxed than most, I'll admit, but you still have to follow some behavioral guidelines."

Clint clicks past the title slide, decorated with clip art representing each side. "Number one! Do not hit, kick, bite, or otherwise try to hurt or maim each other. I'd say there's an exception for sparring, but for you two, there's not."

"Number two!" Natasha narrows her eyes at them where they are sitting with crossed arms on opposite ends of the couch, pointedly not looking at each other. "Do not argue loudly enough that the whole compound can hear it. If you can avoid it, do not argue at all!"

"And, number three!" Clint says with a flourish of the remote. "Do not involve anyone else in your arguments. Especially Peter. He's 16; it isn't fair."

At this, Steve and Tony relax their arms and look toward Peter, almost in sync. The look on his face is strange, blank in a careful, practiced way. He hands them each a little vial of web remover, but he leaves the room before they can do anything to stop him.


	4. Rhodey and Tony, Peter and Some Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rhodey shows up. Tony slips up. Peter runs from himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... kinda got away from me.

More often than he should, Tony lets Peter work in the shop until the early morning. Sometimes he's just drawing up blueprints for whatever wild idea he or Tony have that night. Sometimes he's building the tiny little machines that have become his signature. The first one he builds is two inches tall. It can jump three feet in the air.

It's another one of their all-nighters—that's three in a row because Tony's never been good at sleeping and it turns out Peter isn't either—when Peter falls asleep in the middle of his sketches. He had only slept in 20 minute intervals for those three days—something about Thanos and nightmares, but Tony hasn't pushed and hasn't asked because he knows how difficult it can be—so Tony lets him sleep. He just pulls the hood of Peter's sweatshirt over the kid's head to block out the light and keeps working until the first rays of sunrise burn his bloodshot eyes. He's scrubbing the insomnia from his face when Rhodey surprises him with a hand on his shoulder. He almost falls off his stool.

"Jesus, Rhodes!" he shouts. "Give a guy a little warning?"

"You've been in here a long time," is the only thing Rhodey says.

"And you've been here how long?" Tony asks.

"My flight got in about 12 hours ago. Been here about 11." Rhodey hums discontentedly when he notices Peter, lifting his hood to check that he's still asleep.

* * *

Peter is not still asleep. The second before Colonel Rhodes steps in the workshop, his spider-sense tingles up the back of his neck. He would never call it that out loud of course. He knows how ridiculous that sounds.

He listens to Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes talk, but he keeps his eyes closed.

"Jesus, Tony," Rhodes says, "that kid looks like death. Doesn't he have a bed time?"

"He's not a baby, Rhodey." Peter can hear the frown in Mr. Stark's words.

Rhodes keeps going, though. "Where are his parents?" he snarks. Both Peter and Mr. Stark bristle at that, but Peter disguises his as mid-sleep snuffling. Mr. Stark and Colonel Rhodes freeze, and he feels their eyes on him. 

When they are reassured that he can't hear them, Mr. Stark lowers his voice and speaks. "Don't ask _him_ that Rhodes," he says, voice stern.

"Oh." There's a silence, then a quiet, "How did it happen?" Peter wouldn't have heard it if he didn't have freaky good hearing.

Mr. Stark says nothing for a while.

"Oh, like you don't know, Tony," Rhodes scolds. "You probably know more about this kid than he knows about himself."

Mr. Stark sighs, and Peter doesn't think he's gonna say anything for a minute. Then he says, "It was a plane crash. He was five. They were researchers, S.H.E.I.L.D. agents. Case reports indicate that the plane was sabotaged, but they couldn't figure out how or by whom."

Peter feels giant glass shards bury themselves in his chest. _Whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck._ He stays still, forgetting to regulate his breathing. Forgetting to breathe at all.

* * *

"Shit," Rhodes breathes. The silence overwhelms them then, until they hear the clatter of a metal stool hitting the glossed concrete floor. By the time they whip their heads around, Peter is gone, his sketches abandoned.

Tony's stomach lands on his shoes. "This isn't gonna be good," he says. And then, "FRIDAY, let me know if Peter's suit activates."

* * *

Peter runs blindly through the halls, trying to hold back both the tears and the vomit that threaten to stop him in his tracks. He's mostly successful, except for when he has to take a second to retch into a potted plant. He gets to his room and throws open his closet, yanking the web shooters off his suit and grabbing extra webbing vials from the belt.

He's not stupid. He knows that Mr. Stark will track his suit, try to keep him in the compound. He hesitates for a second, then packs the suit in his backpack. Just in case. He also knows there's a garage full of cars just waiting for him to test out his shiny new drivers license. So he goes there. Unfortunately, the least conspicuous car there is a brand new black cherry Mustang. Fortunately, May taught him to drive a stick.

He drives. His Stark phone guides him to the nearest civilization, a tiny city called Albertville. He knows Mr. Stark can see where he is, but he also knows that he won't be eager to talk about what Peter heard.

He parks the car just outside of town and walks, taking his bag with him. The population on the welcome sign says 18,900. Peter thinks about Queens and May and Ned and MJ as he walks through town, absorbing the old buildings. He's staring at the sign on a building, wishing he had taken French in school when his spider-sense prickles up the back of his neck.

"Bonjour," a soft, sweet voice calls. The girl who accompanies the voice cannot be much older than him, maybe a year or less. She's probably the fourth most beautiful woman he's ever seen. He tries not to thing about why she's the fourth. She says more things, her voice a honeyed alto, but Peter can't understand. She must notice him gasping like a fish, because she gets a funny look on her face before she says, "English, maybe?"

Peter grins. "Yes," he says, "thank god you speak English."

* * *

If anyone asks Peter how he ended up with Louise in the back of the Mustang as she pulled his hoodie off, he wouldn't be able to answer. If they were to ask why he felt a little guilt niggling at the back of his mind until it is buried under her blazer on the car floor, he would elect not to share that information. The way she moves around him, straddling his legs and biting his bottom lip as they desperately pull each other closer.

She pulls the hem of his stupid, geeky t-shirt until it is over his head, and he wiggles out of it, letting it join their jackets on the floor. What he's not expecting is when she takes _her_ shirt off, too. Suddenly, all Peter can see is magenta lace. His mind turns magenta, and so do his cheeks.

She notices him freeze and wraps her fingers around his wrists, guiding his hands to the cups of her bra. He might pass out a little. She kisses him again, and it's like he's come back to life. Then she gets her hand down his pants and he gets his up her skirt.

* * *

And so Peter Parker's first sexual experience is getting to third base with a random French girl in the back of Tony Stark's Mustang while trying desperately to forget the girl he left at home that _isn't his_ because he _never asked her to be_. All because he was hurt and angry and lost and trying not be that scared little kid from Queens.

He walks Louise home. Kisses her chastely on the stoop as her little sister opens the door.

"Be safe," he tells her, suddenly reminded of the danger just a few hundred miles away. She smiles and gives him a strange look, like he's crazy or something.

"You too," she answers, and he leaves, knowing full well he'll never see her again.

He goes back to ECho, feeling different, but knowing he was exactly the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand it was getting too long. It's my second chapter today.


	5. Peter Comes Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Steve try to protect Peter and Tony at the same time

When Peter gets back to ECho, it's almost noon. He sneaks up to his room as if FRIDAY hasn't already alerted Mr. Stark to his presence. He has his own bathroom, just like everyone, so he can count on at least another twenty minutes alone when he peels off his clothes and turns the shower on as hot as he can handle.

He sits on the stone tiles, letting the water turn his skin pink. His eyes close. When they open again, the water is lukewarm. He stands and opens the frosted glass door.

Someone has been in the bathroom, and they left clothes for him on the sink. He gets one of the enormous white towels from the cupboard. After thinking for a second, he grabs another. With one wrapped around his waist, he curls up into a ball in the corner, buries his face in the extra, and cries.

* * *

Mr. Stark is in his room, asleep and snoring faintly in the desk chair. His arms are crossed, and his shades do an almost passable job of hiding the circles under his eyes. Peter walks right past him and gets in bed. For once, he doesn't have any nightmares.

* * *

When he wakes up, his stomach is growling, and Mr. Stark is gone. He stretches, and his insides feel emptier than they have been in a long time. He remembers his dream: pizza with May, Ned, and MJ in his apartment in Queens and easy, familiar conversation about things that feel so far away now. It's like another life.

He heads to the kitchen, still barefoot and sleepy. When he gets there, Clint—he had insisted Peter call him by his first name—is at the stove, the smell of cinnamon and syrup filling Peter's brain. 

"Hey, kid," Clint says. "You like French toast?"

"Uh," Peter says, "yes?"

"How about caramel?"

"Also yes."

"Great, sit down." Peter obeys because Clint is about the only one who doesn't treat him like a baby. Clint keeps working, dunking bread into the egg mixture in the glass bowl on the counter, and Peter hasn't had French toast in a long, long time. Ben used to make it every Sunday for breakfast, and the Sunday after he died, May made it. They both ended up throwing up before they could finish their plate.

Clint and Peter don't speak as Clint cooks. But as soon as the heaping plate—that's definitely a full bread loaf's worth of caramel French toast—is in front of him, Peter speaks up.

"So did you draw the short straw?" he asks.

Clint shakes his head. "Cap volunteered," he corrects. "I'm just here to feed you." He thinks a second, then says, "And make sure you don't go on a teenage hormone-induced rampage."

"Why?" Peter shoves a huge bite of his breakfast in his mouth.

"Because breakfast is the most important meal of the day," Clint answers.

Peter narrows his eyes. "I meant," he says slowly, "why did Captain Rogers volunteer?" 

"I'll let him tell you that. Eat."

* * *

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" Peter says after knocking on the open door to Captain Rogers's room.

"Yeah, Peter," he answers, "come with me." 

They end up in a sitting room that is at least half as big as Peter and May's entire apartment. Captain Rogers leaves plenty of space for Peter on the couch next to him, but Peter sets himself down carefully on a loveseat opposite him. The Captain sighs at him.

"Pete," he begins.

Peter cuts him off to correct him. "Peter," he says.

"What?"

"No one who knows me calls me 'Pete'."

"Okay," the Captain says slowly, "Peter, then. Go easy on Tony."

Peter scoffs. "Like you did?" he snaps. Captain Rogers's mouth presses into a tight line.

"No," he says. "Pretty much... the opposite of that."

"Why should I?" Peter asks. "He had information—important information—about my parents and their deaths, and he kept it from me."

"First of all, you don't know that he wasn't going to tell you. It's not an easy thing to tell someone how their parents died, no matter the situation. It's part of why we haven't spoken in so long."

Peter's brows furrowed. "What do you mean? I thought the Sokovia Accords—"

The Captain cut him off, rubbing a hand across his face. "They were only a part of it, Peter. A small part, truthfully. Just—ask Tony. And go easy on him, okay?"

"I'll do what I can," Peter said bitterly. Captain Rogers gave him a small, tired smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long and it doesn't even have the payload.


	6. Peter and Tony make up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> three folders change everything Peter's ever known.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has evolved past not!fic territory pretty effectively

Captain Rogers follows Peter to Mr. Stark's office. He stands in the doorway, back to them and arms crossed in front of his chest, as if he's keeping guard there. Peter supposes he is.

When Mr. Stark sees them, his face screws up with a mix that Peter hasn't learned how to read yet. "Hey," he says. Peter sits in the chair across his desk.

A moment passes in silence.

"I'm so mad at you," he begins. "And I have questions."

"Of course," Mr. Stark says, "that's—" He hesitates. "That's fair. All of it."

Peter scowls. "How long have you known about my parents?" he asks.

"I've known they were dead since before we officially met. It was a few months into your 'internship' that I started looking into them in earnest."

"Why did you start?" Peter's voice wavers on that, and he chokes it back.

"I was... curious." Mr. Stark considers and chooses his words carefully. "I knew you were an orphan. I knew it was a plane crash over Austria. But certain things didn't quite add up."

"Like?"

"Like it was a private quinjet. If the official data was to be believed, they were low-level government workers. But they both had PhDs. And they were in a _private quinjet_ flying from Russia. If you don't mind me asking..." Mr. Stark trails off. 

Peter raises his eyebrows, but he doesn't respond. They sit like that for a minute, neither one breaking the silence until Captain Rogers coughs, reminding them of his presence. They both nearly jump out of their seats.

"If you don't mind me asking," Mr. Stark says again when they both settle down, "what did they tell you?"

Peter sighs. "They said they had to leave one more time. Then we could stay together. They were quitting their jobs. They had others lined up in Queens, I think. I stayed with May and Ben again. And then I got sick. I ended up in the ER. Ben told me they were on their way home, but they never made it."

Mr. Stark frowns. "I meant," he says, "what did they tell you, when they told you your parents were gone."

 _Not gone,_ Peter thinks, _dead._ "Gone" feels too much like they could come back, hug him and ask him about school like they never left. Instead of that, he says, "May and Ben told me it was an accident. I don't know what they were told, but I do know they wouldn't lie to me."

Mr. Stark's frown deepens, but he nods and opens a desk drawer. In front of Peter he lays out three manila folders. "Here is everything I have on your father," he says, his finger tapping the first folder. He moves to the second. "Here is everything I have on your mother. And this last one is everything I have on the circumstances surrounding their deaths." He puts them in a pile and hands them to Peter.

Peter's hands shake as he takes the folders. He feels like he's coming back to his body just in time for it to sink into quicksand.

"I—" he starts, but he doesn't know how to finish.

"Just," Mr. Stark sighs, "promise me you won't get in over your head with this. If you discover an international conspiracy or something, don't pursue it alone. Aunt May'll beat me up, and I'm far too pretty for that."

Peter lets out a shuddering, tear-filled huff of a laugh. "Of course, Mr. Stark." He stands on shaky legs. Captain Rogers turned to let him through.

"Dinner's in an hour, Peter," the Captain says softly. Peter nods, afraid that if he speaks they'll all hear the tears he's fighting back. He doesn't notice Captain Rogers slip into Mr. Stark's office as he goes back to his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...


End file.
